


Let It Beat

by Seasonal



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Being Yosuke is suffering, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-22
Updated: 2012-12-22
Packaged: 2017-11-22 01:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seasonal/pseuds/Seasonal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, support needs a little support too.  Yosuke's just not as tactful about it as he could be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let It Beat

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when I unearth drabbles from a year ago. Forgive me.

Yosuke's foot tapped out the cadence of the song he knew would be up next on his mp3 player, even as the headphones rested complacently around his neck for the time being. He wouldn't don them until Souji made his decision, but their destination seemed clear enough for him. On a hot, sticky day in July with no victims to rescue and one bear to keep from devouring _all_ of the Topsicles in preparation for "hibearnation" (as Teddie claimed), this was just an opportunity to make the hours slide by faster and to get the team stronger for the next inevitable fight.

Rise's dungeon was the best option, and Yosuke had no problem with admitting (to himself, he didn't need their newest and most famous teammate getting the wrong idea) that he vastly preferred it over Yukiko's overly fancy castle and Kanji's stuffy as hell and _just plain wrong_ bathhouse. And it really _didn't_ have much - _anything_ \- to do with the fact that it was a strip club.

... _Really._

Even with this pure thought, he looked away to hide his grin when he saw Souji approach Rise; she would be the one guiding them there, and Yosuke's grin unconsciously grew when the word "Embarrassing" floated back to his ears. She really _was_ cute, especially when she'd stopped being so gloomy. And now that she was back to being the bouncy, chipper idol he'd become a fan of, she was even more--

"Stop drooling," Chie advised, jogging past him in pursuit of the two now making their way to that day's training location. "I bet Rise-chan doesn't like her fanboys slobbering."

Yukiko, hurrying to join her friend, had to pause to scrutinize Yosuke intently, as though she was half-expecting him to start foaming at the mouth like a crazed dog. Blushing, he swiftly swiped his arm across his mouth, but came up with nothing.

"H-hey! I wasn't drooling, you little--"

Chie's airy laugh was still audible, followed by Kanji's much louder snort, and Yosuke was left to bring up the rear with a scowl on his face.

But if Yosuke hadn't been the last one there, he might have been too busy chatting with Souji or arguing with Chie to hear something new. It was quiet, suppressed by the beat pervading the room, but Yosuke knew music, knew harmonies and subtle chords that lent his favorite tunes their melodies, and it didn't take him long to pinpoint the source.

Rise... was she... _humming?_

She was, he realized, unconsciously taking a step closer and listening intently. Something completely different from the dungeon's music.

"Song stuck in your head?" When she glanced at him in surprise, his response was an awkward laugh while he inwardly kicked himself with the force of one of Chie's Galactic Punts. What kind of a suave opener was _that?_ "Uh-- s-sorry, it's not like you're humming out of key or anything. I just heard you."

Rise didn't immediately say anything, and Yosuke's mind immediately sprang to its usual task of self-deprecation. Great, she probably thought he'd been standing behind her the whole time, breathing heavily like one of her creepy stalkers. "I-I mean, by accident! _Totally_ by accident! I honestly didn't know you'd be singing-- n-no, wait, not that it'd be weird or bad or anything like that if you were! You've got a great voice! But of course you would, you're _Risette_... wow, uh, I'm really rambling now, huh? Ahaha... ha... haaaa..."

His voice died with a last, weak sputtering noise that was a poor attempt at a casual laugh. _Way to go, Hanamura. Now she's going to think you're creepy AND crazy, and go cuddling up with PartnERK--_

The "rk!" left him inadvertently, because the idol was suddenly much, _much_ closer, so close that he could see the exact shade of her irises - brown, but a softer color than his own, and lighter - and _oh god_ , he could smell her shampoo - citrus, of some kind - tantalizing, but if he took a deeper whiff, it'd be pretty damn obvious that he was _sniffing_ her-- dammit, she _had_ to be hearing how wildly his heart was pounding!

"Why do you wear headphones, Yosuke-senpai?"

"H... uh?" Yosuke blinked at her stupidly, almost disappointed that she hadn't just invaded his personal space to confess breathily that she found spiky hair and dropping your kunai on the floor hot-- _No way in Hell._ Then, coming to the rather belated conclusion that he was still staring at her, he almost _did_ drop his kunai in his haste to answer her. "O-oh, it's... kind of stupid, really." Not that he'd said the same to Chie and Kanji, when they'd remarked on it-- in fact, he'd been pretty defensive over it. But they'd been smirking from the start; Rise simply looked curious.

"It's just," he went on with a long exhale, well aware of just how lame this sounded, "... _easier_ to lose myself in the music. This is such a strange world, and the Shadows..."

Okay, maybe it was better not to mention how, the first and last time he'd forgotten his headphones in a rush to save the kidnapped idol, he'd had his very first encounter with a bunch of floating eyeballs. Which wouldn't have been too bad, if the TOTALLY INNOCENT-LOOKING EYEBALLS hadn't gone "BLAAAAAAARGH" and developed a horrifying face, and so he'd yelled ("screamed," Chie phrased it) in shock ("terror," Teddie decided) and-- yeah, Rise didn't need to know any of that. This world just made some otherworldly noise just as unsettling as the fog, and nothing soothed his nerves and got the adrenaline pumping like his favorite tunes.

... Which he tried to explain to Rise as best as he could, only with more stammering and stumbling over his own words. Much to his surprise, no one from the team interrupted them (possibly because Teddie was trying out his latest batch of jokes, and both Chie and Kanji looked about ready to punch him). Much to his even _greater_ surprise, the younger girl smiled up at him and nodded as if she completely understood where he was coming from.

"You know, when I was trapped here..." Rise looked over at the lavender mist drifting from the front of the dungeon, her light tone at odds with her pensive frown. "I didn't have headphones."

For once, Yosuke's brain caught up with her words, but not quite his mouth when he blurted out, "You're humming to block out the music? But this place has a _killer_ beat, Rise-chan!"

He realized all too late that he'd said the wrong thing, before the words completely left his mouth, before Rise flinched and Yosuke abruptly remembered that this wasn't just an idol talking to him now. This was a girl who had spent an entire week locked up with nothing but this music and the insidious purrs of a darkness she'd tried to suppress with nearly fatal results. He hadn't been kidnapped and left alone with his own Shadow, not like Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise had. Yukiko hadn't been in her castle for very long, at Chie's insistence. Kanji had much the same experience, and Yosuke swore up and down that it wasn't just because staying any longer in that steamed-up place made him feel highly uncomfortable beyond fogged-up glasses and his shirt sticking to his back. They'd tried, with Rise, but hadn't been properly prepared; the fights had taken longer, navigating had been trickier, and more days went by that they'd staggered out of Junes, disheartened but ultimately determined to get the idol out of there.

And now she was being asked to guide them through the one place that held the most painful memories for her. This wasn't the first time, but now Yosuke thought back to those fights where she'd so cheerfully commended him for knocking an enemy down, or let out such a happy squeal or an impressed cheer when any one of them dodged. Rise hadn't said a word about how she was feeling-- she'd merely supported them, as she'd done from the start.

Yosuke had liked Rise for her voice, the way she danced as though she genuinely felt the music, for those legs and curves of hers, the beguiling smile and the pretty face. But he'd seen her scared and desperate, screaming her denial, hurt, pale and shaken, but so determined to save the people who had saved _her._ He'd seen her teasing side, her subdued side. He'd seen past Risette.

And what he saw of her, of _Rise_ , he actually liked a hell of a lot.

"Rise-ch--"

"It's not so bad," Rise interrupted him, and there was her "everything's okay" smile, except now he _knew_ that it wasn't. "I've got everyone else to focus on, so it's easy to tune out the background noise." She crinkled her nose, adding, " _Especially_ with all of Teddie's squeaking. I'm pretty sure the Shadows can hear him coming from a mile off."

"I'm _beary_ silent!!" Teddie insisted, suddenly joining the conversation. "Just you wait, Rise-chan! I'll be as stealthy as a snake!"

"Don't go changing forms on us now." Yosuke gave him a light bop to the head. "Are we ready to go?"

Souji nodded over to them. "We'll be starting from the second floor today. Rise?"

Ever the idol, she flashed him a smile and a wink. "You got it, Senpai! One round of support, coming u--"

Except Himiko didn't appear, because Yosuke suddenly removed his headphones and placed them over Rise's head, settling them over her ears and slipping his mp3 player into her hand. It was entirely the wrong time to be thinking of anything but the training, but she really did look adorable in his headphones.

"Y-Yosuke-senpai?" Rise reached up uncertainly, surprised to already hear a faint beat emanating from the speakers. "I thought you just said..."

"I know." It was his turn to wink at her now as he balanced his kunai in one hand and did a final headphone adjustment with the other. "But where would the support be without support sometimes? I can go one time without it."

Her smile was tinged with ruefulness, but the moment was ruined when Kanji interjected with, "Tch, yeah, and this guy's a fan of the 'killer beat'."

"Y-- wh-- _you--_ " Yosuke's squawk was nothing short of highly indignant. "You were _listening?_ "

"Couldn't help it. You bein' so loud and all... 'least you looked her in the eyes 'stead of staring at her legs again."

"You are so dead," he managed through gritted teeth.

Kanji only laughed and grabbed him by the elbow, dragging him towards the front while Yosuke flailed his free arm around and caught sight of a faint shimmer that heralded Himiko's arrival; as he turned, he saw that Rise had settled in to work, but not before mouthing something to him. Something that looked a lot like...

_Thank you._

He grinned and gave her a thumbs up, deciding to ask her for her number later when she returned his headphones, and they entered the dungeon.

Where he immediately ran into his BLARGHing nemesis and decided some higher being out there hated him.


End file.
